Jack's Story
by Paxton54
Summary: Solar Exaltation Story. This is the story of Jack A.K.A. Gleaming Steel of Golden Sheen and his Exaltation as a Solar Dawn.


Disclaimer: I do not own or am legally affiliated with White Wolf or any of its systems. This is just a drawn out background for a character I created for the game.

Jack's Story

Gleaming Steel, once known as Jack Letheras, grew up as a child in a small merchant town east of Great Forks. His uncle on his father's side, whose name was Seto, was a blacksmith and decided when Jack was old enough, he would become his apprentice. At 21 years of age, several months after his uncle's passing away, Jack decided to open up his own business in the city of Nexus. Eleven years later, one day on the way to his Forge, he happened up onto a small dirt road that appeared to not have been used in some time. Not noticing it before, he decided to follow it to see where it went. Not several hundred yards from the beginning of the path, he came up onto a small ruin.

He saw that the door to the entrance was beaten down and the area around it was scuffed about recently. Letting his curiosity get the best of him, he wandered into the entrance to find out more. On entering, he saw that whatever this place was, it had been ransacked and stolen from. "Bandits and thugs from the Guild, no doubt", Jack had thought as he started to more thoroughly search through the piles of rubble and small rooms to see if any one actually lived here. Minutes later, he saw something shiny in an untouched corner of one of the rooms. Inspecting it further, he saw that it was some kind of large golden metallic rock. Picking it up, he noticed an uncharacteristic lightness of the odd metal he had thought was gold. Seeing no one had lived in this cave-like place in a very long time, he decided to take the golden compound. Giving blessing to the gods for his great luck, he slipped the strong, light metal under his tunic.

Continuing on the main path, after hiding the large golden rock in his hip sack, he arrived at his smithy and saw a man standing in front of the entrance. Approaching closer, the man addressed him, "I need a sword of fine antiquity and supreme strength and heard that you were one of the finest Smiths in the city. I work for the Satrap and I come on his behalf to see that you make the finest sword you have ever made, so that he may have no rival when it comes to the workmanship of his blade". "Very well", Jack had said, "I will do my best". "You had better", said the Satrap's underling, "or you will most certainly be hearing again from him". Stepping into the forge, Jack picked up his tools and retrieved a long, thick piece of raw iron ore and stopped. On a whim, he looked down at his sack. He noticed the beautiful golden alloy still there. He sighed and then took it out. Looking it over, Jack thought better of the metallic ore. _Instead of selling it, maybe I can make a weapon of this_. "If the Big Man wants a sword, I shall make him a sword". Regretting, only for a second, sacrificing what was to most assuredly be a great fortune, he got to work quickly. He soon found that this new alloy was pliable and very workable. Time passed and he was half-way done. He found that as he continued on, the task surprisingly seemed to become easier and easier. More time passed and he finally plunged the product of his workings into the water for the last time.

Pulling out the finished blade a moment later, he noticed a faint glowing coming from the base. As the light got brighter, he took a further inspection of the light and saw that it was not the base of the blade that was glowing...it was he. Before another second could pass, the glowing soon turned into a brighter shining, and then instantly maxed out into a full gleaming of glorious brilliance all around him. He all of a sudden felt so alive and so...what was it...Powerful? New thoughts sprung into his head at that moment: thoughts of a younger Age, a better Age. He envisioned a tall and powerful man holding a wonderfully great sword. Around him were four others looking similar in stature and golden appearance. And then, all of a sudden, with the vanishing of that image he soon saw another. The first man he saw was now in the middle of a battle; a battle for his life. It seemed that the elements themselves were against him. Looking over at the ground, the man saw his fallen comrades and friends in pools of their own and each others' blood. Looking back up, the man was face-to-face with a different man. The second man, powerful and evil-looking, seemed to be made of fire itself. Laughing, the fiery man brought his cruel blade down up onto the first and then the image once again faded to black. Finally, one more quick and fleeting image appeared in his mind's eye. It was clearer than any of the others. Two infinitely piercing and shining golden eyes appeared into his vision up onto a visage that was both great and terrible. At the same time he saw this, he felt a great comfort and supreme confidence. And then, out of nowhere, he heard one forbidden name spoken by a voice that was not his own: "_**The Unconquered Sun**_". And then, he came to. _Were these new memories...or old ones?_ _Where was it all coming from_, Jack had thought. Looking into an unused anvil, he clearly saw his reflection. At first he could have sworn that he saw the morning sun behind him, but instead it _was_ him. On his forehead he noticed a mark in the shape of the sun itself. _Miraculous_, he thought.

Out of fear and great curiosity, the Satrap's underling stepped inside of the forge to see what the matter was. On seeing this new man he had never seen before, he froze with wide eyes open, pointed and loudly screeched out, "A-A--Anathema!!". Stumbling over himself, he ran out and away from the forge towards the Satrap's headquarters stumbling all the way. Stepping outside of his forge, Jack noticed that a lot of people were now gathered around and near his forge. He also noticed the fearful and surprised looks on the faces of those people. Several city guards approached the forge and Jack himself with their weapons drawn. Finally figuring out what had happened and what he had become, within one split second, Jack rushed into his shop and ran across the newly forged golden-like sword that he had just finished. Steeling himself, he picked up the blade and turned around towards the guards who now had him surrounded in the corner of his own forge!

The first guard made his move and tried to impale Jack with a lunge. As though the thrust was moving in slow motion, Jack watched his opponent's blade, sidestepped it with great ease, and struck the guard with the flat part of the blade in the back of the head, knocking him 

out cold. The second and third guards took him on together at once. They both made swipes towards him. One blow a left-to-right slash at his head, the other going right-to-left at his midsection. Seeing that he could not possibly parry both attacks, he attempted to parry one and braced himself for the other. Immediately after having his attack to Jack's head blocked, the guard's sword shattered into pieces from the power that was resonating out of the mysterious blade that Jack wielded. The other guard followed through with his attack. On impact, he found that Jack was not hurt in the least. In fact, only his leathers were torn through to his skin, and yet there is not even a hint of a scratch. Seeing this and the undaunted look in Jack's face, the guard that struck the blow to Jack's stomach dropped his sword, and ran in fear outside of the forge. The other guard, not wanting to fight the immensely powerful Anathema alone and without a weapon, turned tail and flew as well. Finally alone, Jack saw that he didn't have much time until more of them came back to try and slay him with greater numbers. Stepping over the knocked out guard's body he gathered a few supplies including some materials for making a hilt, guard, and pommel for the new blade he had crafted. He'd had to use his thick gloves at the base of the new blade to parry the guard's attack and realized that he would most assuredly need to be able to wield this sword properly in the future. No doubt this won't be the last of assaults on his life. After his expedient packing, he looked back at the main room of the forge one last time and sighed.

Jack, now going by the name of Gleaming Steel of Golden Sheen, has been on the run for almost a year...


End file.
